13.02.2025

New legislation will come into force on 6 April 2025 entitling employees to between one and 12 weeks’ neonatal care leave (“NCL”) where their baby requires specialist neonatal care after birth. This will be available on top of any other leave the employee is entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave. Employees who meet the applicable eligibility criteria will also be entitled to receive neonatal care pay (“NCP”).

It is important to flag at the outset that the legislation is still in draft form (see here, here and here, collectively the “Regulations”), so it is possible that some details may change during the passage through Parliament. That said, the drafts provide employers with a useful insight into the scope of the new entitlements and mean HR can now take active steps to prepare.

The Government estimates that these new protections will help around 60,000 new parents each year (see here). Below, we outline key points employers should know about how the new rights to NCL and NCP will work in practice.

Neonatal care leave: key points

Once in force, the new legislation will apply in respect of babies who are born on or after 6 April 2025.

NCL will be available to parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care within 28 days of birth and whose neonatal care continues uninterrupted for seven full days or longer. "Neonatal care" means care of a medical or palliative kind. Generally, the definition includes situations where the baby is in hospital, is receiving end of life care, or is receiving certain types of care following discharge from hospital whilst under the care of a consultant.

To be eligible, an employee must have a parental or other personal relationship with a child who is receiving, or has received, neonatal care. In birth cases, the employee must be the child's parent or the partner of the mother with responsibility for (or the expectation of) bringing up the child with the mother. (Note we use the term ‘parents’ in this article to refer to eligible employees.) NCL and NCP are also available in adoption and surrogacy cases, although the provisions applicable to these situations differ slightly from those which apply in a birth scenario.

All employees who meet the eligibility conditions will be entitled to NCL, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer and what other statutory leave they have taken. Notably, parents who have not yet accrued the length of service required to take statutory paternity leave or parental leave (currently 26 or 52 weeks’ service respectively although due to change under the Employment Rights Bill) can take NCL, so employers should be alive to this possibility. 
Eligible parents will be able to take one week’s NCL for each full week their baby receives neonatal care.

The maximum period of NCL a parent can take is 12 weeks (unless the employer opts to provide more than this) and NCL must end within 68 weeks of the baby’s date of birth.

As is often the case with statutory family leave legislation, the rules around how NCL works in practice are relatively complex (for example the notice provisions). With this in mind, we would encourage you to read the information in the HRL Resources section of our website, and/or to speak with your Make UK adviser with specific queries.

Neonatal care pay: key points

Parents who are eligible for NCL may also be eligible to receive NCP. To qualify for NCP, the employee must give their employer specific information within the relevant period of notice and meet specific eligibility criteria. In particular, the employee must have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks ending with the relevant week, and have received normal weekly earnings over the relevant eight-week period that are not less than the lower earnings limit for the payment of National Insurance contributions (£125 per week from April 2025). (The ‘relevant week’ will vary depending on the specific circumstances but will usually be the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.)

NCP will be paid at a flat rate set by the Government – £187.18 per week from April 2025 (reviewed on an annual basis) – or 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings if that is lower. This is the same as other statutory family leave pay. NCP is the statutory minimum level of payment, but some employers may opt to pay more than this.

Legal protections for employees who take NCL

Much like with other statutory family leave entitlements, an employee who takes NCL will benefit from certain legal protections (for example, protection from detriment and dismissal) while they are away from work and on their return. In addition, employees who have taken at least six consecutive weeks of NCL will benefit from priority rights in a redundancy situation – akin to the new protections that came into force in relation to the various forms of statutory family leave last April. Speak with your Make UK adviser if you require further information on these protections.

Preparing your neonatal policy

The April date of implementation is fast approaching, meaning now is a good time for employers to think about how best to update their HR polices to incorporate these new entitlements. You may choose to update an existing policy (for example, on compassionate leave) or prepare a new one specifically focused on neonatal care leave and pay.

Make UK subscribers can access our model policy in our HRL Resources – see Policy – neonatal care leave and pay (and request form). As the right to NCL will often be tacked onto another form of family leave, it is also worth considering how the introduction of NCL will interact with your other statutory leave policies (such as those on maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental and parental bereavement leave). In addition, you may wish to consider training your HR team and line managers on how to handle requests for NCL and NCP, so that they are ready to support parents when the new legislation comes into force.

How we can help

We will be covering the introduction of NCL and NCP at our Spring Employment Law Updates. Click here to book your place.

In the meantime, if you are a Make UK subscriber, our legal experts will keep you updated on any key points that arise as the legislation makes its way through Parliament. Make UK subscribers can access our model policy applicable in birth cases (see Policy – neonatal care leave and pay (and request form)) and related guidance on NCL and NCP in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.